girls…

So, I want to start off by saying that this is my blog, so the opinions expressed are my own. Feel free to leave comments with your own opinions, but this is my personal space and I will fill it however I want! 🙂

I saw this video today on facebook. Do I think it is impressive? Yes. Do I enjoy the Beastie Boys parody? Yes. Do I want the toys they are selling? Absolutely. But I can’t help to think that we are headed in the wrong direction. Girls SHOULD be smart, they SHOULD develop talents and find their way in the world. But I don’t think that dolls and princesses are bad. I have only recently become aware that this was a major issue in the world right now. I had no idea that allowing our daughters to idolize princesses as young girls is a bad thing.

Let’s dive further:

1. If there is one thing I want my daughter to learn on this earth it is that she IS a princess. She is a daughter of God, of royal and infinite worth. I want her to feel beautiful so that for the rest of her life while the world tries to knock that self esteem down as far as it will go, she might have a tiny glimmer of hope that someone thinks she is beautiful. I want her to know that no matter what, you cannot change your value or your worth, because you are born a princess, so therefore must always be a princess.

2. What is wrong with princesses anyway? At least in the Disney movies they all overcome adversity… why doesn’t that count as portraying strength? The problem is that those who only want to see the ‘worldly glamour’ are choosing to turn that into a negative thing. I don’t think that it is as a childhood princess that we learn worldiness. I think it is as a teenager when our mothers give us everything we want, allow us to wear makeup, work so that they can provide us with worldy possessions. THAT is what shows us that money is important, even above spending time with their own child. I’m not saying that being a working mother is bad. I’m just saying that I am grateful to have had a mother who sacrificed A LOT to be at home for us, even if it meant we never had name-brand tennis shoes, even if it meant I had hand-me-down clothes from neighbors until I was 12. Maybe I wasn’t very appreciative about it at the time, but I am grateful for what that taught me.

3. That leads me into the third, which is this: I do not want to replace baby dolls with anything. I want my daughter to be nurturing and loving. She needs to learn to be soft and sensitive.

“Women of God can never be like women of the world. The world has enough women who are tough; we need women who are tender. There are enough women who are coarse; we need women who are kind. There are enough women who are rude; we need women who are refined. We have enough women of fame and fortune; we need more women of faith. We have enough greed; we need more goodness. We have enough vanity; we need more virtue. We have enough popularity; we need more purity.” -Margaret D. Nadauld (link to her conference talk: http://bcove.me/0zh2dlt1)

4. So, I know that some people are going to say ‘what about barbies? They are teaching our girls that they need to look like that, or to be superficial.’ I’m sorry, but did you play with barbies as a child? I did. And let me tell you the scenarios every time I did: Generally, Ken and Barbie got married. Generally, Skipper adopted a baby. They went to the movies, they ate dinner, they went to school… I did not see them as idolic body-shapes or assume that when I grew up I would have a dream house or convertible. I was just creating everyday life and dreaming of what it would be like to be an adult. And I will tell you what, I was WAY off. But, somehow I don’t think that psychologically impaired my ability to live a normal adult life. (although some of you may disagree with that statement)

Now, I am not ignorant enough to think that this one toy company is trying to change the entire world of girls’ toys and completely get rid of the ‘pink aisle.’ It was just a reminder to me as I watched that video of the way the world is changing. The world is trying to take femininity and womanhood and throw it away. They want us to believe that they are helping us be equals, but in reality, they are removing everything that makes us unique. They are minimizing the strength that I have as a mother, as a wife, and as a woman. I don’t need a degree to tell me I am smart. I don’t need to work outside the home to feel like I am valued. I don’t need the world to tell me I’m worth something, because I already know my Heavenly Father thinks so… and I don’t see him taking babies or princesses away from me any time soon.